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PARIDA WHO CHANGES HIS COLOUR

THUS SPOKE PRASANTA: BAISHNAB PARIDA WHO CHANGES HIS COLOUR LIKE A CHAMELION

Bhubaneswar,10/10/17:Demand of former BJD Rajya Sabha member Baishnab Parida for resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has raised many eyebrows all over, Those who know Naveen Patnaik and also Parida fail to understand the resaon behind Parida making such a strange demand which has bo relivance at all. I would suggest the redaers to have a look at Parida's political career to know about his frequently changing ideology.

He was born on 15 February 1941 in Srirampur, P.S. Mangalpur of Jajpur district,Odisha.His father Jagbandhu Parida was a worker in jute mill in Kolkata and a folk singer and his mother Sulochana Parida was a housewife. His early School education was at Mangalpur primary School. He was admitted to Mahtab High School at Mangalpur.

After his matriculation, he moved to Kolkata to continue his higher studies as his father was working there. He completed his Graduation in Kolkata from Bangabasi College and MA In Political Science from the Universityof Calcutta.Later he completed his M.Phil from Moscow Univeresity.

He was a member o Communist Party of India (CPI) from 1960 to 1992. A great follower of Karl Marx and his ideology, he slowly and steadily got involved in trade union and labour movement in West Bengal. In 1964 he was elected as member of Executive Committee of West Bengal Students Federation. Before that in 1963 he established West Bengal Oriya Students Association and in 1965 established West Bengal Oriya Citizen Council at Kolkata. In 1965 he formed Soviet Land (Oriya Editor) as a member of its editorial board. He continued as a member until 1975. He married Swarna Lata Parida on 3 March 1972.

In 1974 Baishnab Parida moved to Moscow with his family for a special assignment for Indo-Soviet coordination. He stayed there until 1989. During his stay in Russia he held several positions. He was the correspondent o RIA Novosti from 1984 to 1989. He was elected as General Secretary of Indian Association in 1988. During that time he was special correspondent of the Samaja [Oriya Daily] and Eastern Media for East European countries.

After fifteen years in Moscow he returned to Odisha. A Marxist and socialist at heart, he had to leave CPI due to some differences on application of Marxist ideology in Indian reality. During his stay in Moscow he read literature on Mohandas K.Gandhi and Ambedkar , slowly and steadily he was attracted towards Gandhian Philosophy and Lohia' s ideology. And eventually in 1993 he joined Indian National Congress. Until 1998 he was in Congress but due to his differences with the state party leadership he left congress and joined Samajwadi Party in 1999 as its State President. He was in Samajwadi party until he resigned in 2008. In 2008 he joined BJD by pampering the then BJD mentor Pyarimohan Mohapatra. He was rewarded by Mohapatra and was nominated to Rajya Sabha ignoring the claims of many honest and loyal Biju Patnaik devotees.

By that time Parida had changed his clour from CPI to Congress and from Congress to Samajwadi Party allegedly to avail political and financial benifits. For the fourth time Parifa changed his colour to join the ruling party.

Now Parida claims that Naveen Patnaik should resign because he does not know Odia. Was Parida ignorant about this fact before joining BJD of which Patnaik was the supremo and was functioning as the party President as well as the Chief Minister ? He was very much vocal in praising Naveen Patnaik for his contribution to Odisha's development and making Odia a classical language.

The Chief Minister has also issued notification announcing Odia as the official language, establishment of Odia language and literature University etc. Even worst critics of the Chief Minister admit that no other Chief Minister have done so much for promotion of Odia language and literature.

Agriculture minister and veteran BJD leader Dr. Damodar Rout has rightly questioned why Parida was silent during his tenure as a Rajya Sabha Member from Odisha he has also claimed that Chief Minister Patnaik knows Odia much better than Patida. Dr Raseswari Panigrahi leader from Western Odisha has also raised similar question to whicch Parida has remained silent.

Interestingly Parida has threatened to lunch a state wide agitation against the Chief Minister from October 16th making lamguage an issue. But what answer Parida will give to the people if they would ask him about his contribution to the Odia language and literature ? Many political observers feel that Parida might be keen to change his colour to saffron finally by trying to be a Naveen baiter. But such a move without any public support will be boomeranged and he will loose his face for ever.

Though on several occasions the critics and opposition have tried to make Naveen Patnaik's vocabilary in Odia a major issue to influence voters in the State, people of the State are repeatedly supporting him and his actions since last 17 years. It is hightime Parida should realise the reality and change his political selfish agenda.